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Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Monarch Butterfly Craft

After learning that 12 states have named the honey bee as their official state insect, I was curious to see what insect was the second-most named. I thought it might be the ladybug, which is the official state insect of seven states. Upon further research, I learned that the monarch butterfly is also the state insect of seven states! Here's my whimsical version of this beloved insect.

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Monarch Butterfly Craft

Materials:

construction paper (or copy paper) - black, orange, light orange

ruler

paper trimmer

glue

Steps:

For each butterfly wing, you will need six strips of paper. Save yourself some work and cut two at a time of each of these:

7" x 1" orange

6" x 1" light orange

5" x 1" black

4" x 1" orange

3" x 1" light orange

2" x 1" black

Separate the strips into two identical piles, one for each wing. Put a thin line of glue on one end of the 7" strip. Put the 6" strip on top. Add a thin line of glue on the same end of the 6" strip and put the 5" strip on top. Continue until all the pieces are glued together at one end.

Put a strip of glue on the same place you've been gluing. Bend the 2" strip over and hold it in place. Repeat the process of adding glue and folding over each strip, one at a time, until you have a completed wing. Set it aside and repeat all steps to make a second wing.

Cut a 5" x 1" strip of black construction paper and roll it into a tube. Glue it in place. Cut two very thin strips of black.

Glue the black strips inside the black tube. Curl the ends to make antennae. (Fun fact: I had to look up that word to confirm that the plural of antenna is antennae. I thought it might be antenni, like alumna-alumni, but it turns out that a group of female graduates is alumnae... just like antennae. Alumni is a group of male graduates, though the word is also used for a mixed gender group. Etymology is fun!)

Now glue the wings underneath the body. The monarch is done!

From another angle:

Obviously, you could change up the colors and make any kind of butterfly you want. You could also make the monarch more realistic by drawing in its black spots and making three distinct body parts. Whatever you'd like!